Friday, February 8, 2008

The top is finished. You can read the full review on PatternReview.com, here.

I did use Rose's trick of sewing the ties in half so they would stop rolling out to the wrong side. This worked great so thanks again! (BTW Rose, are you MasoumaRose on PR?)

Below are two photos showing the after-the-fact elastic insertion. I threaded it through the end of the hem straight through to the other side. I used safety pins to hold it in place while I tried it on and then anchored it at the two areas between the red circles. I pulled the tails out at the sides and cut them off so the only elastic left is between those two points. (Just for kicks, I also pinned the stretched elastic at the armhole seams to simulate how the elastic would behave if I followed the pattern instructions. It definitely pulled the armholes inward in an odd way so I'm glad I didn't have to be stuck with only that option.)

The top on me:

Two questions from the comments regarding this top:

From Sherril: "I was worried about those ties not working on me since I have such a short waist. Do you think they would work better if they were just shortened and tied in the back, not wrapped around to the front?"Personally, I don't like anything tied in the back after a certain age … say 10. ;-) To me, it says either "little girl" or "maternity." So, my answer is no. I think you should tie in front, but also lengthen the overall length of the top to give the illusion of more torso/waist. And you'll probably want to use Rose's idea too. Just my 2 cents.

From Nancy K:"Did you do an fba on this? It is not clear."Yes, and No. ;-) No, because I was using my TNT Ottobre tee pattern pieces which already have a full bust allowance incorporated via easing extra front length into the back sideseam. But Yes, because I did add extra length (~1.5") to the crossover pieces to compensate for the extra length a full bust needs for coverage.

You have such a talent not only for sewing but for explaining your processes. Your instructions are the clearest I've ever seen. This wrap top is beautiful on you. Are you willing to tell us where the fabric is from? And is it cotton, rayon, poly or a blend?

Thank you for each and every comment. I appreciate them all, but I have to be honest and let you know that I'm usually bad about answering questions. I hope you understand that there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.

To help keep spam comments under control, any comments to blog posts that are more than 30 days old are moderated and will not show up immediately.